With the help of official documents 198 fatal occupational accidents that occurred in Sweden in 1973 have been analyzed. The aims of the study were to find out: (1) The optimal effect of increased use of personal safety-equipment and (2) How many lives may be saved by better rescue-preparedness and optimal medical care? The results are that in one third of the cases personal safety equipment offers significant protection against a fatal outcome. Proper action after a severe accident has taken place could reduce fatalities by about one sixth. BACKGROUND 4ccidents at work are-as far as we know-the dominant source of risk in the working :nvironment [Jarl and Thorson, 19781. In Sweden every year about 2.50 workers are killed and about 2000 are injured in such a way that they get some kind of permanent disablement 1 National Insurance Board, 19761. From a medical, humane and also economic point of view it s urgent to prevent or at least to reduce the consequences of occupational accidents.
Prevention of accidents may principally be carried out in the same way as any other health hazard in the working environment.
Preferably this means eliminating the dangers during the I)lanning of processes and work sites. A second way is to prevent contact between the harmful process and the worker, e.g. by protective screens, safety barriers etc. The third level of protection is to reduce the effect of violence by using persona1 safety equipment such as helmets and protective clothing[National Board of Occupational Safety and Health, l%ll. The capacity of the human body to tolerate large impacts is well known [de Haven, 1942; Kazarian, 13ole, Ketchum et al., 1976; Thorson, 19751. Personal safety devices have been used by man r;ince early history [Gurdjian, 19731 and the effects of protective devices have been analyzed in order to improve and to motivate increased usage of them [Gurdjian, Roberts, Thomas, 1966; Petty, 19751. As a last level of protection rescuing and proper medical care of the injured is a way of limiting the consequences of an occupational accident [Arens, 19761. This study deals with the two levels last mentioned above. Questions to be answered were the following: (i) To what extent can the risks of serious injuries and fatalities be reduced by increased usage of personal safety equipment? (ii) To what extent can more efficient care-taking of severely injured workers reduce the number of fatalities in occupational accidents? MATERIAL AND METHODS